Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Taylor

"Compact Full Open. Mirror World Circuits: Maximum Engage!"

With Opal's incantation, I found myself in a field of white with stars forming a prism of many bright colors flying past me. I held my arms out and could see the same white-and-color-flecked light I'd hurled at those thugs the other day spreading over the before it popped and I was wearing gloves. More light flowing from my neck down my chest and belly to form some kind of dress. I felt something heavy form around my shoulders and turned back to see a cape taking shape, and felt the sensation of the light flowing down my legs to form boots of some sort. Finally, a bit of light formed upon my head, and with a pop I was back standing in my basement, posing in front of a mirror that Opal had talked Dad into putting down here.

Speaking of which, "Dad, why are you looking away?"

"You um," Dad began sheepishly, "you were naked for about half a minute."

I blinked. I then took the wand in my hand and began to throttle it.

"Opal," I growled as I shook the stick, "when were you planning to tell me that?"

"I had assumed that you knew," Opal began, unfazed by my abuse, "Have you honestly never seen a magical girl anime? Regardless, your attempts to strangle me will prove fruitless as I don't have a throat."

After a few more squeezes I sighed and let her go, turning back to look in the mirror. Now that I could get a better look at myself, I noticed that there was a lot of white and a lot of fur in my Magical Girl outfit. A simple white gown, no sleeves, with gold trim covered my torso, blooming from the waist down into a mini skirt that was trimmed with gold at the top and white fur at the bottom. The outfit had thigh high white stockings and knee high white boots, which were, like the skirt, trimmed with fur. On my arms were elbow length white gloves, which like my skirt and boots were fur trimmed. Turning around I noticed that my gown was backless for some reason, and that the cape was layered-a heavy layer of solid white fabric, and a thin shear layer flecked with sparkly specks of color. The bottom of the cape and the shoulders were lined with, what else, white fur. I turned back to face the mirror and lifted the cape to see another layer of sparkly fabric on the inside of the cape, and that the clasp was a gold chain. Finally I noticed that my hair was pushed back a bit more than I normally wore it, that my glasses were gone, and that I was wearing a simple golden tiara with a pair of wings, like Opal's, swooping back near my temples and a single, well, opal, at my forehead.

"So," I said after a good minute of silence, "My costume is 'Princess of the Hooker People of the Great North?' "

Opal gasped. "How dare you Taylor?" she asked in a scandalized tone. "This outfit is derived from the traditional magical girl costume and adapted for our circumstances. It is regal, and is practical for both indoor and outdoor wear." Opal sniffed. "Honestly, to compare it to the clothing worn by a common lady of the evening..."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." I wasn't, just looking over this outfit I could tell that it would be embarrassing to wear… And it didn't have a mask, so if I wasn't careful people would know that it was me in this humiliating outfit.

"Apology accepted… However," my magic wand said, "your outburst has given me the most wonderful idea, Master."

I was suddenly filled with a sense of impending doom.

Opal loudly proclaimed, "Registration Complete! Introducing the newest Magical Girl, Kaleid Liner Prisma Princess!"

"...No. Fuck no, that is not my cape name!" God damnit, the outfit was bad enough but…

"Whatever you say, Princess." I felt my eyes begin to twitch at Opal's words. "And again, such language is totally inappropriate for an elegant young lady."

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever." We'd probably end up fighting about this later, but... I turned to Dad "What do you think?"

"Well," Dad began, "I've definitely seen worse outfits. I'd feel better about it if the outfit had a mask-"

"Out of the question," Opal interrupted, "not a single magical girl has ever worn a mask"

"But," I interrupted, "Dad has a point Opal. If I don't have a mask, then people can find out who I am." I thought for a moment, about people coming after Dad because I got into a fight with them and… "You know what. Never mind. We, we still haven't decided if I'm going to be a cape or not."

Dad nodded when I said that… He um, he hadn't been happy when it came up that I had to help Opal with her mission. We um… We'd said that we'd talk about me being a cape later.

"So," Dad said, "why don't we change the subject. Opal, you've said that you're here to study something, but you weren't very clear. I'd feel better if I knew what it was you wanted her to do."

I hadn't even thought to ask what she actually wanted.

"Oh, it's all quite simple," Opal began. "As I said to Taylor the other night, I was left in this world by my creator, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, in order to investigate abnormalities in its manaflow." Opal flew from my hands and sort of floated around between me and Dad. "Which is to say, that a few years ago, when my master was visiting this world, he noticed something… off about it. Quite simply,"Opal continued, "there's plenty of prana but hardly any magi, those who did exist possessed far below average ability, as far as he could tell, and there were certainly no phantasmal species."

...I had to ask: "In English, Opal?"

"Oh." She sounded apologetic for a moment. "Lots of magical energy," she said, "hardly anyone who can use it."

"And you need Taylor's help finding out why?" asked Dad.

"Correct, Mister Hebert," Opal replied. "Or rather, I need a wielder. Really, any magus would work, but even when I can find one their magic circuits would be too low quality or too low in number to be suitable, and none of them seemed to have even the foggiest clue what magecraft was."

I suddenly got the feeling that we were going to be discussing this for a while. "What are magic circuits?"

"Well Princess-" My eye twitched. "Magic circuits are essentially a grid made of specialized nerves. Magi have them in their bodies, and they are what allow the magi to store and channel prana, which in turn allows them to use magic." Magic? "It's not exactly common in my world of origin, but here there is practically no one with circuits plentiful enough and of high enough quality to use more than rudimentary magecraft."

"And I have these circuits?" I was skeptical. You'd think something like extra nerves would have come up on a medical exam or something right? I mean, they x-rayed me after… the other day.

"Yes, you do Princess." Opal turned around to face me and her wings bent in a way that made me think she was winking. "You've got quite a few magic circuits, the most I've seen of anyone on this world, and of high quality too." Her tone made it sound like a compliment, but I still wasn't fully sure of what this all meant. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you were the heir of a family of magi or even a homunculus."

Dad asked this time. "Homunculus?"

"An artificial human created with alchemy," replied Opal. "They're known to have large numbers of high quality circuits, just like Taylor... However," Opal said in a different tone, "with the number and quality of circuits and the potency of her Od-That is to say, her vital energy, Taylor should practically be swimming in prana. Instead, she has barely any."

That was concerning. "Should, should I be worried, Opal?"

"Ohnonono, Princess," the stick replied. "You don't need prana to live or be healthy, and now that I'm here I can easily top off your reserves-using the Second Magic to borrow magical energy from other worlds is one of my primary functions," she bragged, though that raised more questions. "We're starting to get off topic, however." I could have sworn that Opal coughed, despite her claiming to not have a throat. "The point I'm making is that I know what the abnormality is, but I don't know what's causing it. Investigating it is a long term mission, one that can't even begin until you've at least mastered the basics of magical girlhood, Princess."

"Give me a minute," I asked. "That, that's all a lot to take in." I took a minute to process everything Opal said, I couldn't help but feel that we'd have to go over this again later.

"So," I asked when I was ready, "how exactly do we go about doing that? Training to get the basics, I mean."

"Hmmm. Is there a place in town where you would be expected to have a bit of privacy," Opal asked, "but where people wouldn't notice or wouldn't care about collateral damage?"

"The boat graveyard is an eyesore that a lot of people would love to see gone," Dad answered to Opal. "But I'm pretty sure that the Parahuman Response Team keeps an eye on it. It's pretty popular for the gangs to hang out there and people steal parts from the ships all the time." Dad clarified.

"Hmm… Better than nothing." I'm not even sure how to describe the shape Opal bent into, but she sounded contemplative. "Now, how do we get there from here?"

"Look, I'm not so sure I'm comfortable letting Taylor go out, especially this late, on her own." I, I'm… I can understand Dad not wanting me to go out, after the other day, but…

"Dad,"I interrupted, "it'll be fine, I've got Opal."

"Yes, Mister Hebert," Opal added, "a Magical Girl possesses a level of power comparable to a Heroic Spirit." Opal flew back to my hand, clearly intending for me to grab her, which I did. "Such base cretins as those who attempted to harm Taylor would be as ants beneath her regal heel."

Dad was silent for a full minute. "Okay. Just, don't stay out too late, and if anyone… really dangerous shows up, leave… And don't leave like… that." He gestured vaguely in my direction.

I looked down at my humiliating outfit… Yeah, there was no way I could go out like this without drawing too much attention. "Opal, how do I-" there was a flash and in less than a second I was back in my civilian clothes.

"...Opal," I began, "why did it take so much longer to change one way than it did to change back?" And now that I thought about it, it'd only taken a few seconds at the most back on the ally and… "What was with the light show just a bit ago? That didn't happen the first time."

"Oh, well Princess," Opal began sheepishly, "your first trance took place in an emergency situation, so I skipped the transformation sequence. Likewise, there's no point in going through the sequence when you're untrancing."

"...So," I began flatly. "You're saying that you left me naked for half a minute on purpose?" Opal did not respond. "I hate you so much right now."

F/KLPT

Opal wiggled out of my hair shortly after I stepped onto the bit of dock before the boat graveyard.

"Oh Princess," she said as she shifted from her smaller form to full stick form, "I do so love your hair. It's so soft and regal and amazing."

"Oh," I said softly. I took a lot of pride in my hair. It was one of the few things I had that reminded me of Mom, so… "Thank you, Opal."

"It's such a shame that you don't take as good care of the rest of yourself as you do your hair."

I felt my eye begin to twitch. "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Shoosh, not now," replied the annoying white stick. "And mind your language, young lady."

I rolled my eyes. I got the feeling that I'd be doing that a lot from now on. "So, what now?"

Opal presented herself to me, so I grabbed her. In a flash of light I was back in my hooker princess suit. "Ordinarily, Magecraft requires years of study to perform all but the most basic mysteries. However, Princess-" God I hope no one hears her calling me that-" with a Kaleidostick such as myself, knowledge of magecraft is drawn not only from my personal reserves of information but from any potential wielders alternate versions of myself have had as well as any alternate versions of my wielder."

"Layman's terms, Opal."

"In layman's terms, Princess," I think she was calling me that to annoy me, "all of the knowledge of prana manipulation and the natural and scientific laws of the World that you would normally need to work Magecraft are inside of me. All you need to do is feel an emotion or picture yourself working the mystery," the stick bent in my hand in such a way a to face me, "and I do the hard part so that we can get to the fun part right away."

"So," Opal continued after straightening herself, "all you need to remember for now is that you don't need to think: You need to imagine!"

"Okay," I began, "so if I want to blast something with that energy-"

"A prana cannon," Opal interrupted.

"If I want to blast something with the prana cannon," I continued, "I just have to swing you at something and think about blasting the shit out of it?"

"Well, yes… If you want to phrase it so crudely."

I thought it over for a moment, the swung her towards one of the ships while picturing a big blast of energy flying from her towards it. Like the picture in my head, a massive beam of white filled with prismatic stars fired from Opal's head. Unlike what I pictured, the ship was blown to smithereens. Luckily most of the flaming debris landed in the water but-a horrible thought came to mind.

"Opal… You um… You don't think anyone was in there, do you?"

"I didn't detect any living presence in that… particular, ship, Princess..." Opal sounded hesitant. "However, I think that further practice of the prana canon should be delayed until you've proven to me that you can imagine less… destructive beams."

A couple of people were yelling and a raggedy looking man climbed out of a door on the side of another ship, jumped down, and started running-he wasn't heading my way and I don't think he saw me, but… "Opal, we need to leave. Th-there's no way in Hell that people didn't hear that." I ran from where I was and ducked behind a derelict building.

"We'll be seen if you just try and walk out, Princess." Opal hmmed. "I was going to try and save this for a later date, but I suppose I should try and teach you to fly."

That came as a surprise. "...I can fly?"

"Of course, Princess," Opal said, in a tone like if I'd asked if the sky was blue or if blood was red. "All magical girls can fly."

"Okay Opal," I replied, "spill it. How do I fly?"

"Oh, it's very simple," she answered. "You just have to picture yourself flying."

That sounded easy enough, so I imagined myself flying. Well, I tried to at least... but I couldn't do it. I-I just couldn't. Every time I tried, I thought back to Emma. She was my best friend for my entire childhood… We'd played capes and robbers as children, as all children did, and every time I tried to imagine myself flying I'd think back to Emma and me taking turns pretending to be Alexandria and the wounds left by my best friend's betrayal began to ache.

"Opal, I'm trying... but I can't. I just can't do it."

"You can't picture yourself soaring freely through the air, as all of mankind has dreamed since time immemorable? Hmm..." I'm not sure how to respond to that, or what kind of 'hmm' it was meant to be. "Can you imagine yourself feeling great joy and freedom?"

Again, I tried but… I backed up against the wall and started to slide down. "I don't think I can… I, I don't think I'll be able to fly Opal."

"Nonsense! You're a Magical Girl, Princess. You can do anything as long as you believe in yourself."

"That's just it, Opal…"A dark realization was beginning to sink in. "I don't think I can."

"What?" Opal asked, incredulous to my plight. "Why not?"

"You were there," I said, "in the hospital when I-"

"What?" There was almost no inflection on Opal's word. "Are you seriously saying that you are going to allow threats and harsh words from brutes and cretins not fit to lick your regal boots stop you from being the best you can be?"

"The-there's a part I left out. Opal, the ringleader… The bitch-" Opal didn't chastise me-" who started all of this? She… She was my best friend."

"Please, Princess, explain?"

So I did. I told Opal about Emma. About how close we'd been, about how Emma had changed while I was away at summer camp. About how she'd used everything she'd known about me as a weapon to hurt me. About how I was utterly alone. I didn't cry, not once. I was out of tears to shed over the loss of my best friend.

"Taylor," Opal began as I finished, "do you know why I was there to save you? Why I followed you, after you sent me away the night we met?"

I shook my head.

"You're simply the only person I've met in years who could be my master. I've been here, in this world, for a very long time, Taylor." Opal… I hadn't heard that tone of voice since Emma… "I'd begun to despair, you see, and fear that I'd never complete my mission. I felt as if I was alone in the universe," Opal solemnly declared. "Then, as I flew over this city, I felt your presence and I sensed your potential." Opal took on a dreamy tone, "My nonexistent heart began to soar when I sensed you, exactly the kind of person I was looking for." Opal flew from my hand and floated straight before me. "Meeting you gave me hope, Taylor."

"So," she continued, now back to her regal tone, "I don't ever want you to feel alone, because I'm here for you, always." She bent in such a way as to give the impression of a friendly smile. "And if that traitor honestly hurt you so bad that you can't believe in yourself, that's okay, because I believe in you, and if that's not enough then I darn will make it enough!" She presented her handle to me. "Now please, Princess. Stand up, take a deep breath, and try again. Just one more time, try to fly. I know that you can do it," she finished with complete certainty.

I smiled. I couldn't help it, after what Opal said. I stood and took her, and I closed my eyes. I tried to focus on the feeling that Opal's words gave me. Opal said that joy and freedom would let me fly. That wasn't what I felt, but it was closer than anything I could think of right now.

"Open your eyes, Princess."

I did, and there I was, floating a foot off of the ground.

"Congratulations, Princess," Opal said with joy and pride in her voice, "I knew you could do it. Now, try to remember what you're feeling right now."

I didn't know how else to answer so I just nodded.

"Now that you know that you can fly, can you picture yourself soaring, flying around the moon and far beyond the sky?"

I took a moment, just one, before I answered, "I think so."

"Very good, Princess," she said as though with a smile. "Now, try and fly higher-as high as you can!"

I did my best to imagine myself soaring freely, and and kept my thoughts on Opal's words from before-and I took off into the sky like a rocket. I must have been miles over Brockton Bay by the time I stopped ascending.

"Marvelous, simply marvelous!" I could hear the pride ringing out in her voice. Sh-she was proud of me. "You're quite a natural, Princess. Flying is a rather complicated bit of magecraft, after all, with many magi never learning it even with years of study. Even some magical girls have trouble."

What? "But you said-"

"I never said it was easy, Princess," Opal said with a laugh, "I only said that all Magical girls could do it, and that I believed that you could." She laughed again, "honestly, if I'd said how hard it really was, do you think you could have flown this high?"

I didn't answer. I didn't know. I looked at the city miles below me. On the surface, Brockton Bay was a festering shithole, but from up here my home town was beautiful. Up here, it felt like a huge weight that I'd been carrying my whole life had just melted away. This, this made it all-the humiliating outfit, Opal's nagging about being a proper young lady and her embarrassing nickname for me-being up here in the sky made it all worth it.

"Thank you, Opal."

"You're very welcome, Princess."